Saturday, May 31, 2014

The work on the sewer line has extended further south along the length of the substation. Here are some pictures of the progress made on Wednesday:

The digging continued on Thursday:

On Friday, two layers of protective material were installed between the building and the area that had been dug out below street level.

The first layer, which looks like a black rubberized material (right), was installed first, followed by a second (on the left), which looks like the same material that was used on the upper walls prior to laying the brick.

Another busy Saturday as a layer of gravel was added to the excavated area seen in Friday's pictures and was then smoothed down under pressure by the hand-pushed machine seen below.

I have to confess that this machine really gets on my nerves even though i understand the importance of what it does. It's incredible how such a small machine can produce so muchnoise and vibrations.

Meanwhile, the brick workers are cleaning up after the last of the capstones have been installed.

I'm curious to know what kind of roof is being put on the substation since that's a little above my vantage point. I'd consider sneaking up on the roof of my building to get a look if it weren't for the whole fear of heights and terror of ladders thing. Wouldn't it be great if they put in a green roof?

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Today's post is dedicated to the crew on the roof, since i've apparently been remiss in getting pictures of them. So here they are, installing the capstone border. I wish i could have found a vantage point where i could get a good picture of them without the power lines getting in the way; but they are pretty much unavoidable.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

This may come as a surprise to those of you who regularly follow this blog, but up until very recently i did not own a camera. Until today, the pictures posted here were taken with my phone, a Samsung Galaxy S3, which takes great pictures but has been misbehaving a bit lately (just as i've almost finished paying for it). So i finally broke down and got a real camera, and went a little crazy taking pictures today. I'm having more trouble than usual editing myself, so here are a whole lot of pictures of the crew putting in the new sewer line.

Lengths of sewer pipe stacked on the Bobcat

These next two pictures show gravel being put in the trench after a length of sewer pipe has been installed.

The next several pictures show a length of sewer pipe being moved into position in the trench

And here is the view from ground level:

This is one of the smaller trench boxes like the ones in use in the excavations pictured above.

View from ground level of the clay sewer pipe being moved into the trench

Meanwhile, the roofers are also hard at work installing capstones and metal flashing.

While the crane operator delivers sheets of metal flashing weighed down by a tool kit.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

It's been a busy few days, and a lot of the remaining tasks have been finished. The first three pictures show the status of the back wall last Saturday, with one section still needing the brickwork. Note the superstructure on the roof supporting the scaffolding.

On Monday, there was a lot of activity on the roof.

By late this afternoon, work was completed on several fronts. I hope the lighting in the pictures

isn't too distracting; it was late afternoon and the sun was shining brightly

when i got the chance to take these pictures.

Decorative iron gate installed at the south end of the substation.

The plywood forms have been removed, revealing the new section of the retaining wall

The sun was low and shining so strongly late this afternoon that reflections from the windows of the apartment building next to the worksite made this odd pattern of light on the new section of the wall.

The view from the Pratt Blvd. end of the worksite.

The brickwork on the trackside as been completed

Anther view of the back wall

A sure sign that the work is finished on the trackside wall: the scaffoldingand related superstructure has been removed.